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WARNING!: Description below may be disturbing to some readers.
A crude memorial stands at the base of this outcropping next to an open mine adit facing Majuba Mountain west of Imlay, Nevada. The area is littered with a number of mines, once owned by the Strode family who had their remote home located here. On December 2, 1980, a lone hitchhiker named Mark David Rogers (who also went by the aliases Mark Joseph Heyduk & Tee Pee Fox, claimed to be an aspiring musician headed to Reno & was picked up by several individuals in the area before he was dropped off (after they sensed something was odd about him). Alone & far in the desert, he eventually meandered his way to the Strode family home that was once located here where he found the door unlocked & he helped himself inside. The family, which included Emery Strode (71), Mary Strode (72), & their daughter Meriam Treadwell (41) were out & later returned. Rogers, who had heard them coming, had hid himself upstairs until he heard Mary coming up that way, to which he brandished a knife he had found in their kitchen & violently stabbed her. He did the same towards Emery as he tried to save his wife, then tied up Meriam & shot them to death, hiding their bloodied bodies under the bedsheets. He then stole the family's vehicle & made a fast getaway, driving all the way north to Bellingham, Washington where he attempted to cross into Canada but was refused entry. It was through the Strode's son Frank the following day after the murders that he arrived on the property following a Thanksgiving trip & discovered his deceased family. Police were summoned & for a time there was little clues to be found however on January 4, 1981, Rogers was miracuously caught on Interstate 10 in the panhandle of Florida after being seen riding on the bumper of a car. He was eventually linked to the murders that took place here & charged for the crimes, though several expert witnesses at the trial identified him as a paranoid schizophrenic. Regardless he now sits on death row, but due to changes in laws it is unlikely he will ever be given the death penalty.
This location is quiet, remote, seldom visited & a bit eerie. Lots of mormon crickets however to which I could hear them in the middle of the night chirping away. If anyone were to visit this location they would see just how random a place it would be for a triple homicide (at least in modern times). The memorial cement post has been shot at but it read:
2 DEC 80 STRODE
Above is a statue (of Mary?) & a cross. The Strode home is long gone now & only a few rusted old vehicles remain as the sun sets behind Majuba Mountain.
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